Coil fastener



H. WILCKEN COIL FASTENER Sept. 8, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 5, 1961 Will/lll] Flc-i2 Sept. 8, 1964 H. wlLcKEN 3,147,529

con* FASTENER Filed May 5, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Huo wub/:NEN

United States VPatent O 3,147,529 COIL FASTENER Hugo Wilclren, Holstein, Germany, assigner to Walter Erich Heilmann, Essen-Bredeney, Germany Filed May 5, 1961, Ser. No. 107,958 Claims priority, application Germany May 9, 1960 4 Claims. (Ci. 24-2tl5.16)

The invention relates to a helical coil type slide fastener comprising a pair of helically coiled wire members preferably consisting of plastic material, each coil member being fastened on a carrier strip by sewing one side of the coil member thereon, and a slide member which is guided with its flanges on the remote sides of the coil members with respect to the coupling sides thereof.

In helical coil type slide fasteners it is known to provide the helically coiled wire members with a wound-on sewing string and to sew this sewing string by a double chain-stitch one sidedly onto the carrier strip, whereby the loops of the lower thread cover the sewing string and a part of the coiled wire member. Because textile threads are used for sewing, the slide member will be guided with its lateral flanges on the sewing string and the layer formed by the loops of the lower thread. `In helical coil type slide fasteners of this type the textile threads of the sewing string and the textile threads of the double chainstitch seam may, particularly in laundering, absorb water, thereby causing expansions or swellings which may lead toV jamming of the slide member, whereby the ease of.

shifting is impaired, if not blocked.

i Furthermore it is known, to till-up the coiled wire member of a helical coil type slidefastener, either partly or entirely with a string extending longitudinally within the helically coiled wire members and, if required, to wind the sewing string onto the windings of the helical coil. If these fastener members, or helically coiled wire members respectively, are one-sidedly sewed on a carrier strip with the stitches lying between the windings of the helically coiled wire member it may happen that the upper threads of the seam slip-olf to one side, so that desired protection against ironing heat is lost.

Therefore, the mainvobject of the invention is to provider a helical coil type sliderfastener having helically coiled wire members made of plastic material which are protected on top against adverse effects of ironing heat.

Another object of the invention is to provide a helical coil type slide fastener having a steadily smooth substantially non-expandable guide surface for the anges of the slide member.

The invention pertains to a helical coil type slide fastener of the described type and comprises a slide guide member made of plastic material in form of a strip, string or the like, which is pierceable by a sewing needle. Helically coiled wire members each are one-sidedly sewn by a chain-stitch seam to their respective carrier strips. The loops of the lower thread of the seam have loop sections interconnecting the loops in a transverse direction and covering the guide members and the helically coiled wire members. Such a seam is herein referred to as a vamping seam.

By employing vamping seams of this type, the guide members for the slide member, made of thermoplastic material, as well as the helically coiled wire members, which are also made of thermoplastic material, are covered by the loops of the lower thread of the seam. The guide members are thereby protected against ironing heat on the side remote from the carrier strip, while the sides of the guide members lying remote from the coupling side of the helically coiled wire members are exposed, thereby assuring guide surfaces which will remain smooth. In employing these double chain-stitch seams ice it is necessary to secure the pitch of the helically coiled wire members prior to the sewing operation. This may be achieved by a string which is fastened by winding either on the outside or inside of the helically coiled wire members, or by connecting the windings of the helically coiled members on the side remote from the coupling side with a continuous thermoplastic material strip. According to the invention it is possible to work with two, three or more needles for making the chain-stitch seams, so that while one seam is traversing the thermoplastic material slide guide, two additional seams extend in parallel spaced relation thereto along the helically coiled wire member.

The invention will now be described in detail by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which several embodiments of the invention are shown by way of example.

I n the drawing:

FIGURE l is a transverse sectional view of a slide fastener embodying the invention.

FIGURE 1A isa fragmentary plan view of the fastener shown in FIG. 1.

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a modified form of slide fastener in which the guide portion is formed of threads instead of solid material, the plan view being generally similar to FIG. 1A. i i

' FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view illustrating another modified form of slide fastener which is provided with a filling core, the plan view being generally similar to FIGURE 1A. Y

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional view showing still another modified form of slide fastener in which the convolutions of the fastener are formed integrally with a connecting` strip. p p

FIGURE 4A is a fragmentary plan view of the slide fastener shown in FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective View, inverted with respect to FIGS. 1 through 4, showing a double row of Vchain stitching which forms a vamping seam, all other portions of the slide fastener being omitted for clarity of illustration of the seam.

FIGURE 6 is similar to FIG. 5 except that the vamping seam is formedby a triple row of chain stitching.

According to the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the helically coiled thread or wire fastener member 1 consists of thermoplastic material, such as polyamid, polyurethane, or the like having a attened or oval cross-sectional conguration. The thread or wire is cross-sectionally shaped for establishing a slider controlled engagement with a similar cooperating fastener member (not shown), or the wire may be provided with stamped coupling surfaces for engagement with cooperating coupling surfaces of the other fastener member. A string 2 is fastened to the helically coiled wire member 1 by looping individual strands around the convolutions of the helical wire fastener member 1 thereby assuring that the correct pitch of the convolutions of the helically coiled wire member 1 is maintained.

In accordance with the invention the looped string 2 is covered, as shown in FIG. 1, by a strip 3 of thermoplastic material which may have an angular or L-shaped cross-sectional configuration. The helically coiled wire member 1 together with the strip 3 and the carrier strip or stringer tape 4 lying on top thereof, as shown in FIG. 9 are fed to a chain-stitch sewing machine working with two needles. One of the needles sews the seam S1 through the thermoplastic material strip 3, while the other needle will sew the other seam S2 in the longitudinal direction of the helically coiled wire member with the vertically extending loops of the stitches lying between the windings of the helically coiled wire member. The loops L of the horizontally extending single thread have loop sections LS interconnecting the end portions of the vertical loops of the threads of the two seams S1 and S2. In

FIGS. 1 through 4, the transversely extending loop sections LS are shown positioned in the upper portions of the various transverse sectional views whereas in the inverted perspective views of FIGS. and 6, the loop sections LS appear inthe lower portions of the views. The horizontal loops L, LS are so arranged that they etfectively cover the strip 3 and the helically coiled wire member 1 on the free side remote from the carrier strip 4. The vertical side 3 of the strip 3 is exposed, thereby forming a guide surface for fthe slide member which will always remain perfectly smooth.

Instead of the solid L-shaped guide strip 3 a string or cord S made of a group of threads of thermoplastic material may be used to form an L-shaped guide as shown in FIG. 2. The guide string or cord 5, as described above in connection with FIGS. l and 1A, covers the looped spacer string 2 and is exposed to provide a guide surface on the side opposite to the looped string 2. In this case also the sewed connection with the carrier strip 4 is achieved by rthe above mentioned double chain-stitch seam S1, S2, with horizontally extending interconnecting loops L, LS. As noted above, this type of seam is referred to as a vamping seam. The construction of this seam is shown in detail in the inverted perspective view of FIG. 5. Alternatively, a triple vamping seam may be used instead of a double seam. Such a triple seam is illustrated in FIG. 6. Y When using the triple seam of FIG. 6, two seams S2, S3 extend along the helically coiled wire member 1, thereby making it possible to increase the width of the upper layer formed by the loops L of the lower thread and the loop sections LS' transversely interconnecting the upper threads of seams S1, S2, S3 for covering the helically coiled wire member 1 and the thermoplastic guide strip 3, or string 5 made of thermoplastic material threads. y

As shown lin FIG. 3, the helically coiled wire member 1 is provided with a filling core 6, while a guide strip 7 of thermoplastic material, which is pierceable by the sewing needles, extends along the helicallyy coiled wire member providing a guide surface 7 remote from the coupling portions la of the helical wire 1. The guide strip 7 has substantially the same height as the helically coiled wire member 1 measured from the carrier strip 4. These parts are connected by sewing the parts 1 and 7 to the carrier strip or Stringer tape 4 using the aforementioned double vamping seam shown in FIG. 5 or the triple seam shown in FIG. 6. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the pitch of the convolutions of the helically coiled Wire member 1 is maintained by the filling core 6.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 4A, the

individual convolutions S of the fastener member are integrally formed with a longitudinally extending strip 9. A guide strip 10 formed of plastic material which is piercable by the needle of a sewing machine is placed alongside the strip 9 which interconnects the convolutions 3 of the wire fastener member. The connection with the carrier strip or stringer tape 4 is made by a vamping seam a`s shown in FIG. 5. It is to be understood that the triple seam of FIG. 6 may be used instead of the 'double seam of FIG. 5 in embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4.

What I claim is:

1. A slide fastener member, comprising a Stringer tape, plastic loops disposed perpendicularly to the tape and spaced along one edge of the tape with parts of the loops extending outwardly of said one edge, an elongated plastic slider guide on the tape extending longitudinally along the tape parallel to said one edge, said guide having one side contacting other parts of the loops and a free smooth other side facing away from the loops to guide the slider, a first line of looped stitching extending through the guide and securing the same to the tape, a second line of looped stitching extending longitudinally of said plastic loops between opposite edges of the loops and securing the plastic loops to the tape, and a layer of looped stitching overlaying the plastic loops and said guide on sides parallel to and facing away from said tape, said layer including looped sections extending transversely of the tape interconnecting outer ends of the rst and second lines of stitching on the sides facing away from the tape.

2. A slide fastener according to claim l, wherein the plastic loops are interconnected by a plastic strip extending along the guide at said one side thereof.

3. A slide fastener .member according to claim 1, wherein said guide is formed with a recess extending longitudinally thereof and 'facing said other parts of the plastic loops, said fastener member further comprising an elongated string member interconnecting said other parts of the plastic loops, said string member being disposed in and concealed in said recess.

4. A slide fastener member according to claim 3, Wherein said guide is formed of plastic threads.

References Cited in the le of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 218,834 Australia Nov. 24, 1958 498,008 Belgium Jan. 2, 1951 1,197,493 France Dec. 1, 1959 1,207,670 France Feb. 18, 1960 1,209,668 France Mar. 3, 1960 

1. A SLIDE FASTENER MEMBER, COMPRISING A STRINGER TAPE, PLASTIC LOOPS DISPOSED PERPENDICULARLY TO THE TAPE AND SPACED ALONG ONE EDGE OF THE TAPE WITH PARTS OF THE LOOPS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY OF SAID ONE EDGE, AN ELONGATED PLASTIC SLIDER GUIDE ON THE TAPE EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY ALONG THE TAPE PARALLEL TO SAID ONE EDGE, SAID GUIDE HAVING ONE SIDE CONTACTING OTHER PARTS OF THE LOOPS AND A FREE SMOOTH OTHER SIDE FACING AWAY FROM THE LOOPS TO GUIDE THE SLIDER, A FIRST LINE OF LOOPED STITCHING EXTENDING THROUGH THE GUIDE AND SECURING THE SAME TO THE TAPE, A SECOND LINE OF LOOPED STITCHING EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID PLASTIC LOOPS 